Monthly Archives: June 2014

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Hi, Great day. I have had my chemo and the hospital team were fabulous. They wanted blood at the end, and the chemo entry arm was cold from the drugs and refused to bleed. I had my first ever blood out of right arm. Challenged the nurse for a 10/10 re no feel and seriously she pulled off an 11. Imagine the skill to stick you with a needle, suck some blood and you feel nothing. Elizabeth and I then went and had a great coffee a Felischer’s, worth a try if you are a Melbournite.

Then home, am in Perth Fri-Mon with Mitch. A bit of dad and mate stuff. Also cousin if someone finds him. I have been rung by the office of both Alannah MacTiernan MP Perth and Melissa Park MP Fremantle today, both of whom I met in Canberra. Alannah MacTiernan is co sponsoring the Dying with Dignity bill with Richard Di Natale, for comment. They under their own initiative have asked to set up a meeting while I am over there. Very thoughtful and shows this is getting traction.

Below finally my response from the Prime Minister and though not a meeting it is not no! I thank him for responding in such a positive way indicating that this is a debate that needs to be brought out and had. At some stage I still wish to put my point one on one. I have put it next to the Vic Premiers response as quite a contrast in leadership styles. I look forward to the federal level now having real discussions leading to a real conscience vote when all are informed and passionate either way.

Weekend Sunrise, well done. I sent them a note asking for a chance to give a terminally ill persons view as a follow up, so fingers crossed. Petition is going OK at 8500, a few new friends helping but needs lots more exposure. Hoping all the global lookers on the blog have a go, imagine if some more Chinese,India and Russian sympathisers could join in and use their networks to support the petition, some have.

Tomorrow our film maker is over for 4 hours of filming, we are making a teaser looking for funding from Philanthropic groups which will need to start flowing if this doco is to be made. Friday had a meeting with my oncologist who I love (PS as well as his office team) was really interesting. We had a long chat round what I was up to, his thoughts around it specifically and the complexity for doctors and patients around end of life. I learnt a bit more, was happy he did not see me going off on a tangent and then we got back to business around should I continue Palliative chemo or not. Elizabeths response was we did not come to talk about stopping and as it is not having debilitating effects he agreed lets charge on. That was that, so into hospital Monday for the big dose, number 6. It means I have lived on chemo for 11 months in my life, quite a lot when you think about it. As a team we have now set our sights on Christmas but anything can happen.

Breathing is getting a bit harder and I am getting into starting to use my portable oxygen, a good look children get out of the way at least. Went to the Pics today with my sister down for a weekend just staying in touch, Malefecent…fantastic if you are into fantasy as I am. It features a world with pixies and fairy’s seems a cool place to be.

Back to reality in Melbourne after a few days in Canberra. Achieved a great amount but still a long way to go. I had an appointment with my Oncologist today and ready for my next chemo on Monday.

Here is a video of the ABC Radio National interview from Tuesday morning with Senator Richard Di Natale. Now you can see another dimension of us through sound and moving pictures.

My wife Elizabeth continues to support my quest on this important issue relevant to all Australians, she called into Chrissie Swan & Jane Hall on Mix 1011 this morning. Chrissie & Jane were talking about the reignited Dying with Dignity debate in their ‘Is It Just Me’ segment. It was great to hear so many callers support this bill. If you missed the interview you can hear it below.
https://pgs28.files.wordpress.com/2014/06/elizabeth-on-mix.m4a

I have compiled a list of several articles which have covered the Dying with Dignity debate and a worth a read. Please help spread the message by signing the Change.org petition (found on the home page) and my plea message to meet with Prime Minister Tony Abbott (see below).

Today, I gave a speech at Parliament House in Canberra to upper and lower house members who attended this morning in support of the bill for Dying with Dignity tabled for comment by Senator Richard Di Natale.

Very exciting but edgy update. My family have decided to work with a film maker who approached us around a high quality documentary. The details are below and I ask your deep consideration around individuals or corporations who would be interested in helping this idea via funding. It is to look for a number of reasonable scale supporters, not trying to take around a hat. My reason for doing this is to ensure I have done the utmost I can for enabling Australians to have a medical choice , which is simply that, a choice they may never use for assisted death in cases of terminal illness like myself, and incurable illness and suffering. Please spread this idea as widely as possible. I will update you on what occurs. In Canberra next week so looking for an exciting update Tuesday night.

The idea and note from the film maker follows. Anyone with help or ideas please email Jeremy at Jeremy@thirteendisciples.com

I am looking forward to working with you to Produce what will hopefully be a profound and thought provoking documentary.

The format of the documentary will be a feature length film that will aim to premier at a major international film festival, such as Sundance, Toronto, Tribeca or SxSW and continue on to festivals both internationally and domestically over the following year. We hope to secure a deal with an Australian television broadcaster over the coming months and will appoint a sales agency to negotiate distribution with international cable, television, iTunes, Amazon, Google, NetFlix, hotel and airline channels.

The underlying theme of the documentary will be looking at the necessity to legalise medically assisted death in Australia. It will follow your journey as a positive-minded terminally ill cancer patient who wants the right to choose how you die and your efforts to get the attention of the media, public and politicians in Australia. We will explore some of the darker ways in which terminally ill people have ended their life without a safe and medically assisted framework in place and draw parallels between Australia and other countries such as the UK, Canada, US, along with countries where voluntary euthanasia has been legal for some time like the Netherlands and Switzerland.

We estimate that the budget for this documentary will be around $500k. Twenty percent of the production budget will come from the Screen Australia Producer Offset program and we hope that another part of the budget will come from a broadcast deal and various government grant schemes, however we will need to raise the remainder of the budget through corporate and philanthropic donations. Documentary films rarely return a profit, as such we will unlikely raise private investment capital. If the documentary is commercially successful, 15% of the profits will be donated to the Cancer Council.

It would be great if you could connect me with organisations and individuals you have been working with who you feel may be able to help us with the documentary.

The information contained in this email may be confidential and/or legally privileged. Use or disclosure of the information by anyone other than the intended recipient is prohibited and may be unlawful.

Hello. My dog and I had an amazing trip yesterday from Lakes Entrance across top of Hotham in light snow and back down the Hume to Melb. 600K and 300K racing car windy. It was incredible going over the top of the mountains, in sunshine looking down on clouds and peaks and snow. Makes every day so valuable. I was a bit tired at the end as the dog hogs the bed in a motel and they are not that big! Mitch has finished his last exam and things are OK fingers crossed, so proud and excited dad at him making his way. I have made appointments with my GP who I love for later in the week for a catch up, my Palliative care team are coming tomorrow for a catch up and my oncologist is back from LSL so made a time with him next week. That certainly keeps me doctor informed. Looking forward to next week in Canberra and the Federal Politicians listening and acting. Eliz and Mitch and I are going for 3 days even though the Bill and senator/media bit is tuesday. Have a look a round and go see my fathers pic that was in the war memorial last time I was there.

Blog is getting great readership around 500 a day so I think it is adding value, certainly for me and people looking are from something like 20+countries. Also getting some great supporters helping expand reach.

I had an official response from Vic Premier Napthine via a Parliamentary Secretary Craig Ondarchie saying blah, blah and blah…”The current government has not plans to introduce any legislation on this issue. Thank you for bringing your views to the Premiers attention.” You judge him on that………… Strange thing is their office rang me 2 days ago, I missed it and then in 2 followup calls , leaving a message and being told they would ring back, which makes sense as they made the first call nothing happened. Maybe Vic Govt is just slow. Anyway my patience is thin and this response after the attention this issues has and needs is unacceptable. Feel free to tell them, 1 voice can be ignored but millions can not. Be one of them.